Cadavre exquis – Take 2; Team 3

Due to the number of people who wanted to play along for this second edition of Cadavre Exquis, and not wanting to restrain writers’ inspiration, I divided the group in three teams. This is the work of Team #3. I hope you’ll enjoy the writing exercise!

Cadavre Exquis is a writing game in which each player only gets the last sentence of the writer before him/her. Here is the result of putting all the puzzle pieces together…

Just what I needed.

When good ol’ Murphy decides to give his best shot… Darn, if only I had charged my phone before leaving home. Now kicking on the fuckin’ flat tire in the dark, I am thinking that I probably wouldn’t have had any signal anyway.

Of all itineraries, why did I have to take this road? The highway would have been much faster, but of course, I couldn’t help going through the forest. The view wasn’t even that interesting, since the sun had already set.

And now the rain. Not just a nice refreshing shower… No. A sudden torrent.

Locked out of the flat tired Jeep, soaked and pissed, feeling like throwing the damn useless phone in the woods, I sighed when I saw lights coming my way.

It took me a moment, before I realised they were not the right height for a car, maybe a lorry? No still to high. What the hell what is? The light was blinding, I suddenly had the theme tune from close encounter going through my head. No it couldn’t be. Could it?

It wasn’t a vehicle I knew the look of, suddenly it moved with reptilian grace and slowness, lifting itself up from the ground and standing on four enormously strong, scale covered legs. It was the size of a small car and its body was round and compact, like a Volkswagen bug. As it stood, it moved its lizard-like head back and forth, sniffing the air, nostrils flaring in and out and its long black tongue darting in and out of its mouth, tasting, scanning for the scent that had disturbed its sleep. I tried not to breathe, holding as still as I possibly could despite the trembling I felt in my limps and the thundering of my heart in my chest.

How could I stay here? I was crouched in a little hollowed out space left by a large fallen tree. The creature was sure to catch my scent on the wind. I’m sure it wouldn’t be long before it smelled my fear. My terror was getting the best of me. I felt the irresistible urge to run. “No!” my head screamed but it was too late…

My body took over any rational thoughts in my mind and suddenly I was up and running. My feet hit the forest floor and the muscles in my thighs screamed as I jumped over rocks and pushed through the thick brush that had covered any path that once had been here. Heart pounding and my breath coming in short gasps, panting heavily I ran for my life. For a brief instant I felt I might have escaped until…

I heard the pounding feet draw nearer and real fear gripped me. This one would never relent so I dug deeper and ran on well past my breaking point.

It’s amazing how far I could push myself when necessary as I would never have thought I could run this far. But my breathing was really laboured now and my hope fading fast.

Amazing how absorbed I’d become in saving my own life but what of the others on our bus …

I quickly pushed thoughts of myself away, realizing how selfish that would have been, and started asking for assistance breaking out a window so we could at least get the kids out before the flames engulfed us. Once the kids were safely out of the way, and after dialing 911 to alert someone of our location, I looked for the emergency exit. It took myself and another gentleman who looked pretty strong, but we got that sucker kicked out. One by one, we helped the ones able to walk off the bus, just in the nick of time. Yet how long could the injured wait before help would arrive?

They struggled to get out of the way of danger, they fought to save their own lives but they knew what was coming if they didn’t get out of the way. The injured could no longer hold on and slowly, one by one, they started to ascend.

But little did they know they were not escaping the hell that they have been living in, they were being recruited for another, larger purpose.

They were heading for the front lines…

Of The forever war.

Very special thanks to the fab-five bloggers who contributed to this round of the game: Trina, Maggie, Calmkate, Kim and Colin! Please take a minute and visit their blogs 🙂

No, it’s the excitement of a new life. No new job but I left one that really made me ill. And my department didn’t even bother to give me a card. Just got a bunch of flowers as an after thought from my former boss. It showed me that it was the right decision to leave….

I love how it all came together, when each person really hadn’t any idea of what was written before theirs. Amazing how the story went here and there, and still was all connected somehow in the story. Thanks for letting us do this. It was so much fun. Thanks for mentioning who was on each team, too! Congratulations to everyone for doing a great job. 🙂